Paul Kearney
Paul Kearney was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. He lived for some years in
Copenhagen before moving to the United States with his wife. As well as the first
two books in The Monarchies of God saga, Hawkwood's Voyage and
The Heretic Kings, he has written The Way to Babylon,
A Different Kingdom and Riding the Unicorn, all published by Gollancz.
He and his wife have recently moved back to the UK and are living in Cambridge.

I don't normally dive into the middle of a series, starting with Book Three,
but I was sufficiently intrigued by the dust jacket summary of
The Iron Wars that I thought I'd give this one a go. Although I was
impressed with both the writing and the story, I discovered that this is not a
stand-alone novel. On the plus side, I was so impressed with Book Three that I
decided to go back and read the first two to fill in the gaps. I would advise
you to learn from my error: start from Book One. It's an adventure well worth
taking, and you won't want to miss out on any of it.

The story in The Monarchies of God takes place in a fantasy setting
roughly parallel to Renaissance Europe. Magic exists, but is on the wane. Gunpowder
exists, and is on the rise. There are two great religions in the
known world: the Ramusian Faith, based on the teachings of Saint Ramusio;
and the Merduk Faith, based on the teachings of the Prophet Ahrimuz. Sound
a little bit familiar? Well, yeah, the parallel with Christianity/Islam is obvious, but it works.

The Normannian continent (Europe) is in upheaval. The Merduk hordes are
invading on the eastern borders; the remnants of the old empire are stirring
again, having united their independent city states, their armies on the march
outside their own borders for the first time in centuries; the Ramusian Church
is in schism, with the kingdoms divided in church-sponsored civil wars and
religious purges. The Dweomer-folk, those with a talent for magic, are
forced to flee their homes to avoid the zealots' pyres. A small group of
them take ship for a fabled land across the western ocean, which may or may not exist...

And this is only the backdrop. There's a lot going on in this story, and
there is a real depth to the world, its history, and the characters. The
cast of characters is vast, but each of the protagonists in the various
intersecting story lines is clearly defined. Some are eminently likeable,
some utterly despicable, but all are shown to have merits and failings.
Each is as human as the next -- even the ones who are not quite human.

The Iron Wars, as the title suggests, is a book largely concerned
with war, and in particular with Corfe Cear-Inaf, the only soldier to have
survived the fall of Aekir, now with his own command.

Every wonder what heavy cavalry can do to light infantry? It's either
glorious or terrifying, depending on your perspective. Either way,
though, it's going to be pretty messy. Every wonder what a mass of pikemen
can do to heavy cavalry? It's ugly. Every wonder what 6-pound guns can do
to a tent camp taken unawares? Brutal, all right. And Kearney shows us
these battles in all their glory and ugliness. He shows us the horrors of
destruction, death, pain and gore, and he shows us heroism that would
honour the ghosts of the dead at Thermopylae. He shows us tactical genius
in action, and he shows us stifling class-biased military stupidity as
agonizing to witness as Galipoli.

But there's more to this book than just battles and bloodshed. We see
characters walking some very fine lines, risking everything to juggle such
issues as power and prestige, high treason and fervent patriotism, heresy
and true faith. There's political manoeuvring, magical manipulation,
emotional frailty, and a whole world of fascinating detail. Everything
you could ask for in a good solid work of fantasy.

Kearney seems to have a knack for ending the volumes of this series not
with cliffhangers, but with just enough plot momentum to keep the reader
wanting more. As I ate up the last few pages, I realized that each of
Kearney's loose ends are not to be neatly tied off, but neither are they
to be left blowing vaguely in the wind. No, these loose ends each have
a big juicy hook attached, pulling me inexorably into the next volume.

Of the projected five books in The Monarchies of God series,
The Iron Wars is the third. Book Four is anticipated for release
in February or March 2000. Gollancz still holds the rights and so, at
present, the books are not available in North America. UK and Australian
fantasy fans can enjoy the first three fifths of the series now, while
North Americans are going to have to either order from abroad or... wait.

(P.S. And I'm sure that whenever Wayne MacLaurin finally gets hold of them in North
America, The Monarchies of God books will find their way
onto one of his MacLaurin Fat Fantasy Award lists!)